Birders,
Dorothy Tella, Erika Wilson, and I set off from Riverbend Park Visitor Center
yesterday morning at 7:30 and hiked to Seneca Road, 6 miles away. (We left one
car at the Northern Va. Regional Park Authority gate at the end of Seneca Road
in Great Falls.) The expedition was the brainchild of hiker extraordinaire
Dorothy. Erika tracked our route on her GPS, gave lessons in birding by ear,
and identified the many varieties of ferns...sensitive, cinnamon, Christmas,
New York,and fragile (for the plant buffs). I was the notetaker. The trail was
lined with purple, yellow, and white violets, spring beauties, garlic mustard,
blooming paw-paws, and bluebells enjoyed by Ruby-throated Hummingbirds. We
walked the wooded ridges along the Potomac as Northern Parulas called above,
Blue-gray Gnatcatchers flitted in the canopy, Worm-eating Warblers buzzed,
Great Crested Flycatchers "reeped," and Scarlet Tanagers called from opposite
sides of the river. Two sleek male Common Mergansers glided by, DC Cormorants
dotted the logs, and several Spotted Sandpipers landed on rocks near the shore.
An Acadian Flycatcher posed on a bare branch. We passed through Fraser Preserve
where a Gray Catbird and Brown Thrasher both held court. It rained lightly on
and off, but by the end of our trek, sun rays came filtering through the new
pale green leaves of the hardwood forest, and we were serenaded by the
flute-like tones of Wood Thrush and the strident blasting of Ovenbirds. We saw
no Carolina Wrens and worried about the lack of them. The trail was passable
the whole way as new culverts meant no more climbing up and down embankments to
avoid streams.
The list:
DC Cormorant 20
Great Blue Heron 10
Canada Goose 20
Wood Duck 3
Mallard 7
Common Merganser 3
Red-shouldered Hawk 1
Red-tailed Hawk 1
Spotted Sandpiper 4
Mourning Dove 1
Chimney Swift 9
Ruby-throated Hummingbird 2
Belted Kingfisher 2
Red-bellied Woodpecker 20
Downy Woodpecker 3
Hairy Woodpecker 2
Northern Flicker 1
Pileated Woodpecker 9
Acadian Flycatcher 1
Great Crested Flycatcher 6
Yellow-throated Vireo 2
Blue-headed Vireo 1
Red-eyed Vireo 6
Blue Jay 22
American Crow 8
Tree Swallow 2
Carolina Chickadee 14
Tufted Titmouse 27
White-breasted Nuthatch 3
Ruby-crowned Kinglet 1
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher 24
Wood Thrush 12
Gray Catbird 1
Brown Thrasher 1
Northern Parula 18
Yellow-rumped Warbler 7
Black-throated Green 2
Prairie Warbler 1
Black-and-White Warbler 1
Worm-eating Warbler 3
Ovenbird 8
LA Waterthrush 4
Common Yellowthroat 2
Scarlet Tanager 5
Eastern Towhee 3
Field Sparrow 1
White-throated Sparrow 17
Dark-eyed Junco 1
Northern Cardinal 16
Red-winged Blackbird 2
Common Grackle 15
Brown-headed Cowbird 20
American Goldfinch 24
Linda Millington
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